Football coaches Jim Mora, Todd Graham, Rich Rodriguez, Clay Helton (twice) and Mike MacIntyre were in the spot Utah's Kyle Whittingham now occupies, trying to follow through on a Pac-12 South championship in this decade.
Whittingham's program is better positioned with returning personnel than those former division winners, but history says that going from a South title to a Pac-12 championship is far from guaranteed.
The decisions of defensive linemen Bradlee Anae and Leko Fotu, running back Zack Moss and cornerback Julian Blackmon to stay in school rather than enter the NFL draft certainly improve Utah’s outlook.